Euro 2012 Schedule Avoids Stock-Trading Slumps: Chart of the Day

Denmark is among 16 nations with teams competing in this year’s European championship, being held in Poland and Ukraine from today through July 1. The Euro 2012 matches are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. or 8:45 p.m. central European time. Photographer: Chris Warde-Jones/Bloomberg

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Anyone looking to buy and sell
European stocks during the next four weeks may have an easier
time trading because the region’s championship soccer matches
will be played at night.

As the CHART OF THE DAY shows, trading slowed on local
stock exchanges two years ago when World Cup games took place
during the markets’ regular hours. The drop in minute-by-minute
volume averaged 55 percent for companies in benchmark indexes in
matches involving a country’s national team, according to a
study from the European Central Bank.

“Stock markets were following developments on the soccer
pitch, rather than in the trading pit,” economists Michael
Ehrmann and David-Jan Jansen wrote in the research, published in
February. Ehrmann works for the ECB in Frankfurt, and Jansen is
with the Dutch central bank in Amsterdam.

Nine European countries were tracked in the study along
with the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the World
Cup’s host country, South Africa. The only country where stock
trading didn’t decline during the matches is Denmark, as the
chart illustrates.

Denmark is among 16 nations with teams competing in this
year’s European championship, being held in Poland and Ukraine
from today through July 1. The Euro 2012 matches are scheduled
to start at 6 p.m. or 8:45 p.m. central European time.

Stock trading fell 33 percent on average during World Cup
2010 matches that didn’t involve the national team, according to
the study. Declines were recorded in all 15 countries, including
Denmark, where the volume dropped 31 percent.